Don't Forget Me
by thedreamerswin
Summary: A plane crash AU. What if the plane crash didn't have the ending we thought it did? What would happen if Lexie disappeared after the crash? How would Seattle Grace (and Mark) deal with that?
1. In The Sun

AN: So this isn't a Run update (I'm still debating the end), but I had an idea and thought I would run with it.

Eight months had passed.

Eight months since the crash. Three days after that they'd gotten rescued, only not all of them had made it back.

Arizona had lost her leg, Cristina had taken longer than anyone expected to start operating again, Derek's hand had not gotten anywhere near better, Meredith clutched her daughter closer, focused much more on her than on anything happening in her budding surgical career - and Mark, well Mark had physically recovered but something disappeared out there in the woods.

Of the five who had come back, all had received heavy sedation on the planes and helicopters following their rescue. Only, once they woke up, one by one they realized the sixth person on their flight had not made the flight back.

Mark had kissed Lexie's hand goodbye, firmly believing that she had died, but her body never made it back. Somewhere between Mark and Meredith vehemently calling out for search and rescue to pull Lexie out from under the plane, and getting sedated, Lexie had gotten lost.

Later, after waking up in Seattle angry at her missing sister, Meredith had screamed at numerous people to get her little sister. Losing Lexie was bad enough, but to not be able to bury her, to give her the proper funeral she deserved seemed wrong. With each member of the search and rescue team, they spoke to it became increasingly clear, no one could find Lexie. The original team had looked under the plane and couldn't find her. Cristina had stayed awake nearly all of the 72 hours in the woods and swore not even a wolf had crossed her eyesight.

None of it made sense.

The missing fourth-year resident was not in any shape to just get up and walk away, so none of her disappearances made sense. Mark swore up and down that he had felt her pulse slow to a stop while holding her hand and promising her the future they both knew was never coming. Even in his weakest state, he knew he never felt a pulse on her neck or wrist. Julia had fallen by the wayside within moments of Mark waking up in Seattle, he felt like a cheater for even considering the option of staying with the other doctor.

In the first week of month three, Seattle Police Department had declared Lexie dead. Citing her injuries, the other doctors described and the wreckage of the scene as reasons she couldn't have walked away. For the following few months, Mark and Meredith had kept careful track of any brunette patient matching Lexie's description entering any emergency room in the relative crash are.

In month six, Derek pleaded with them to call off the search. He firmly believed that this search would end up killing Mark too, and he couldn't watch his wife fall any further. He missed the younger surgeon who he had considered a younger sister by the time of her death, and his breath caught in his throat every time Zola said "that's not how Lexie does it" or called out for her missing aunt, but he knew he needed them to stop this or it would kill them both. Derek couldn't afford to lose another person when they had all already lost so much. So in month seven, they held a funeral.

The day of the funeral both Meredith and Mark announced at one point or another their refusal to go. In his apartment, Mark had chucked a plate at Derek's head when he told him they had to go.

 _-Flashback-_

 _The plate smashes against the wall as Derek suggested once again Mark needed to change. His last suggestion had caused Mark to fling the piece of dishware at him. "I'm not going. This is ridiculous; she could turn up any day. I'm not going to a funeral to bury an empty casket." Mark explains frustration clear in his voice._

 _Derek sighs, he'd called Cristina to deal with Meredith and immediately drove himself over to Mark's apartment. This day was hard enough on him, and for two of the people he cared about most in the world, this was their worst nightmare. "Mark, you told me yourself you felt for a pulse and didn't get one. You need to go. For Lexie." He pleads to hope that he can get Mark out of the apartment._

 _Somehow Mark had decided he could handle giving the eulogy, but it looked increasingly with every passing minute that couldn't happen. "I've messed up so many things; surely I could have messed that up too." He rationalizes running through every mistake he had ever made._

 _With an exasperated sigh, Mark lets all of the air out of his lungs and collapses to the ground. His elbows rest on his needs so his arms can support his head. There's no mistaking his vulnerability or the tears in his eyes. "She was 27; she wasn't even 30 years old. We wasted so much time and if-" Mark's voice trails off. "If I had stopped being an idiot sooner she would have known that I loved her. She would have been sitting next to me on the plane. She would have been right next to me. We could have gotten married. I should have told her sooner I still loved her." Reaching up one of Mark's hands wipes at his eyes._

 _"You loved her. She knew." Derek promises, for a moment the image of Lexie crying in the hallway at Meredith's mom's house crosses his mind._

 _"I need to go today," Mark says knowing he can't ignore it. The funeral would happen with or without him._

 _Nodding, Derek places a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You need to go." He agrees sadly. Derek wishes that he didn't have to make his friend go today, but they both knew if Mark skipped this he would grow angry with himself later._

 _"I just don't want to say goodbye yet."_

 _-End Flashback-_

Having known Mark nearly all of his life Derek expected Mark to react to Lexie's death with whoring around, drinking or blowing off responsibilities. He could have never expected Mark would work every day and remain the dedicated father he was. Mark went to work every day, got in earlier, stayed later, and only took time off to spend with Sofia.

The little girl had remained a saving grace of sorts; Mark poured every ounce of energy he had left into the girl. While Derek and Callie could see the bit of Mark that seemed dead, Sofia knew no better. The attention from her father had remained constant.

Little did Derek know Mark still had alerts out just in case something happened. The hospitals in the area around the crash site knew what to look for, and the city morgues had details. He called, not every single day like he had before they declared her dead, but still often enough. Mark couldn't bring himself to give up hope and now he just wanted to bring Lexie home. While Mark secretly held out the belief that someday he would see Lexie alive again, the rational doctor part of him knew with her injuries he would never see Lexie alive again. Either way, he wanted to bring her home, he wanted to bury her and be able to be buried next to her someday.

Mark wanted answers. Someone couldn't just disappear. So until he had answers, he would keep looking.

AN: And that's chapter one. It's a little more of a preface, but I promise if you stick around you won't be disappointed. Drop a review and let me know what you thought!


	2. Who You Are

Her eyes shoot open.

Taking a moment to try and orient herself in the room, her mind runs millions of miles a minute. Blinking again she looks around the room to try and process everything. Her eyes catch medical equipment attached to her. A heart rate monitor and some leds, her mind tells her.

At first glance she realizes she's in some sort of medical center. Trying to think of who she should call her mind goes blank. Not a single name comes to her mind. A couple of faces run through her mind, a man with salt and peppered hair, and a blonde woman.

No names come to mind.

Panic floods her mind as she tries to think of even her own name. For some reason she can remember the intricate details of what the heart rate monitor next to her bed does but not her name or any other specific details about her life. Before she can completely begin to panic a doctor comes into the room. "Welcome back." The doctor says and the woman in the bed wonders how long she's been out.

Moving closer to the bed the doctor stands at the end of it. "I'm Doctor Michaels, welcome to Dillard Medical Center. You've been here for a few months." The woman says softly. Having introduced herself this is now the only name the woman in the bed knows.

Nodding slowly the woman in the tries to quell all her questions. "A few months? How long have I been here?" She asks worriedly, something in her gut tells her that it's been a while.

"You've been here about eight months, someone brought you in, having found you in the woods. We don't know all the details, but you had some pretty severe crush injuries especially on your left side." Doctor Michaels explains gesturing to the young woman's arm which has clear scars on it. "We're expecting you to have pretty high mobility regained once you begin physical therapy." Michaels explains.

For some reason the woman in the bed feels like she needs to have mobility in her hands. Legs be dammed, something in her gut tells her that she needs to be able to use her hands. "Uhm, I'm sorry but what's my name? I can tell you exactly what the lines on the heart monitor mean but I can't seem to remember my name?" She asks and tries to ignore the alarmed look on the doctor's face.

"You were unconscious for the entire time you've been here. We don't know your name. All we know is that you're probably in your late 20's, you've got AB positive blood, you had your appendix out at some point, you're brunette, and you've got your wisdom teeth. That's what we know about you, unfortunately we don't know your name or really anything else about you." The doctor sadly explains.

Unclear of what comes next the woman in the bed tries to think, "So what, you run a bunch of test, a CT and MRI, and then refer me to your leading neurosurgeon?" She asks running through what she would do.

"Yes, but we've done a lot of that while you were asleep and I'll definitely want to run some more but I'm the leading neurosurgeon here." Michaels explains gently. With Dillard not being a trauma center they didn't really see a lot of this, so she was out of her element here.

Processing, the patient tries to rack her brain for anything. Any piece of information she could have. "So I have some source amnesia and post-traumatic amnesia from whatever caused my injuries." The patient assumes rattling off information that flashed through her mind, she could see the pages in the books with the information.

Surprised, Doctor Michaels tries to come up with another solution than keeping the patient here and therapy. While the scientist in Lauren Michaels wanted to keep working on her Jane Doe, she knew exactly who she needed to forward the case on to. "Let me make a few calls and see what I can do. I know you clearly don't remember much but do you think you were a doctor? You seem pretty sure of your knowledge here?" Lauren had gotten lucky before with patients having memory issues where if she just asked the information they would recite it, pulling it from a part of their brain filled in the gaps.

"I think so, but I just don't know." There's a note of desperation in the patient's voice, Matthews can tell that she wants to know.

Standing up she takes the chart in her hands. "Let me go make a call I've got an idea of who I want to take a look at your chart." Walking out of the room the doctor pulls her phone out of her pocket. A few years ago she'd referred a patient to Dr. Derek Shepherd for surgery, and he'd referred a few patients to her post-op or for a closer distance.

Dialing the number it takes only two rings for Dr. Shepherd to pick up on the other line "Hello Dr. Shepherd, it's Dr. Lauren Matthews at Dillard Medical Center. I know that you're still recovering from surgery on your hand, but I have a case I think you'll want to look at, and I wanted to transfer her to Seattle Grace Mercy West…" She begins before launching into the full explanation of her Jane Doe.

Twenty minutes later, orderlies are prepping the Jane Doe to be taken via ambulance from Dillard to SGMW. "You'll be in good hands, he's the best." Dr. Matthews promises the young woman encouragingly.

The ride between hospitals takes forty-five minutes with the traffic in downtown Seattle, but the Jane Doe's just grateful to have answers. She couldn't help but wonder about her life. Did she have siblings? Someone who loved her? Were they looking for her? Was she actually a doctor or just an enthusiastic watcher of tv medical dramas.

"Okay we're here." The EMT announces moving to open the door.

Letting out a breath, the Jane Doe tries to calm her nerves as the EMTs open the doors in the Seattle Grace Mercy West ambulance bay, with no idea what to expect from the hospital.

AN: And that's chapter two! Who's this Jane Doe? Review and let me know what you thought!


	3. Helplessly Hoping

After receiving the nerve from his sister two months ago, Derek had yet to operate. Only now he had finally started to take in cases that seemed like they could be surgical. Slowly, he wanted to operate again. Having practiced with every surgical training tool in the hospital, and beginning to drive his wife insane with the practicing on different types of fruit, he really thought he could strongly consider taking the scalpel in the operating room again.

Between Derek's hesitation and the loss of Lexie, the neurosurgery department had a lot of ground to make up. So Derek took the call from Dr. Matthews and he took the patient. Hoping that this case would force him to finally take the last leap into the game.

Getting the page the ambulance had arrived, Derek makes his way down there. Passing Mark, Derek stops briefly. Since the accident he had made sure to invite Mark to do things on a consistent basis, he knew that since losing Lexie the plastics surgeon would do everything in his power to leave effort only for Sofia outside of work, getting Mark to do things took proactiveness on Derek's part. "Hey Mark want to grab a drink tonight? I've got a patient coming in right now but I'm scheduled to be done around 6." He offers.

Unable to think of anything else to do once his shift ended, Mark agrees with ease. "Yeah I'm off around that time, and I don't have Sofia tonight." Mark has no problem agreeing to hang out with Derek after work. When he doesn't have Sofia he usually tries to do as much paperwork as he can, or see if he can stay on call. Going home to his apartment, alone, was miserable.

"Great - I'll meet you in the lobby around six." Derek shouts before moving towards the ambulance bay. Grabbing Hunt, Torres, and Yang Derek meets the ambulance, preparing to move the new patient to Trauma room 1 for an initial evaluation.

Before the doors open he runs over the details he'd been given. "So this patient is in her late 20's, she's relatively stable, just woke up after being comatose for several months she's woken up completely lucid. There's some remaining damage from an unknown trauma on the left arm and left foot, which is why I've paged you. We're unknown on the trauma, just that it appears to have been traumatic enough to cause some pretty severe amnesia. So be prepared to not have answers to a lot of your questions." Derek explains. The hospital has pretty solid amnesia protocol, but he doesn't want to mess around, any wrong action could ruin the patient's life.

The doors swing open and the four doctors all turn to look in the ambulance. "Jane Doe, late 20's, stable and conscious, amnesiac, transfer from Dillard Medical Center." The EMT reads off and Derek freezes once he looks onto the gurney.

Next to him he hears Torres speak in shock as she looks on the gurney. "That's-" She starts her voice failing her.

"That's Lexie Grey." Derek finishes Torres's sentence. Snapping back into action Derek turns to Yang. "Page Meredith and page Dr. Sloan, do not let them into the trauma room while we're evaluating, but pull them from wherever they are and keep them in the hallway." Derek instructs. Normally he would have sent an intern, but this, they'd held a funeral for this woman. "And don't tell them anything I'll talk to them." He calls out.

Stepping forward Derek moves to meet the gurney. "Hello, I'm Derek Shepherd and I'm the chief of neurosurgery here. Dr. Matthews said you're having some problems remembering some things, so I'll be taking a look at that and we'll be figuring out what's going on. I've also consulted a couple of other doctors to help with some of your lingering issues." Somehow Derek manages to turn on the McDreamy voice as they move Lexie.

Derek couldn't believe after all of this Lexie had spent the last eight months in Dillard Medical Center. Lexie, who Mark still actively mourned hadn't died. In a matter of minutes he would make her day.

"Well I'd introduce myself but it seems that we're meeting because I've forgotten my name." Lexie jokes and Derek can feel himself shrivel inside. They'd met, he knew how this woman liked her cereal and her toast, he knew her favorite kind of beer because he'd taken to picking it up when he did the grocery shopping.

Forcing a laugh Derek begins pushing the gurney into the trauma room as quick as he can. "Well hopefully we can help with that." As the medics help to shift Lexie from the gurney to the bed Derek leans over to Owen "Someone needs to make a note on her chart and grab me a sulfur drug allergy bracelet, she's allergic to sulfur drugs and I doubt that's marked on here." He whispers and Owen nods.

Slipping the bracelet Owen hands him on Lexie's wrist, Derek begins his exam. The questions he asks nearly all receive answers of "I don't know" and even though Lexie doesn't know, Derek knows. Derek knows mostly what happened to Lexie, he knows the details about her that she can't answer. "I'm going to go set up some scans for you. I'll be right back." Derek cuts himself off before he says her name.

Taking a step outside the room Derek hears Mark's voice shouting. "Why did you page us Yang if you're not going to tell us what's going on?" Mark doesn't hesitate to not keep his voice down. Meredith's just standing in the hallway next to Mark looking confused by all of this.

Walking over, Derek gestures with his hand for them to follow. "Follow me." He mutters before leading them to the end of the hallway. Cristina follows, no doubt to support Meredith's reaction whatever it is. "This morning I got a phone call from a Doctor at Dillard Medical Center, a doctor had a patient in her late twenties who had recently woken up from at least an eight month coma presenting with amnesia." Derek starts.

"What's the point Derek? You've got an exciting patient and you need our help why are you acting like the world is ending." Mark interrupts not liking the feeling he's missing something. Whatever's happening makes Mark feel like he's out of the loop in a way he dislikes.

Sighing, Derek looks to Cristina before turning back to Meredith and Mark. "The patient is Lexie. She's in trauma room 1, but she doesn't know her name. Torres needs to look at her left arm and her left ankle, she's stable, and she doesn't know who she is. Her personality is there but she has no idea who she is, so if you go in that room you need to keep it together." The last part of Derek's explanation is pointed directly at Mark.

For a moment they're both silent, Meredith speaks first. "She's alive? Lexie's alive?" She asks remembering seeing Lexie under the plane and witnessing the funeral.

"She's alive." Derek reassures her.

For Mark, this isn't enough, he needs to see Lexie but before he goes into the room and takes a look at the woman in the bed he needs to know. "Are you sure? I can't, Derek if I go into that room and it's not Lexie… I won't… I can't…" Mark trails off.

All of this makes sense, Derek had seen the damage Lexie's supposed death had done to Mark. "I'm sure. Lexie Grey is in Trauma 1." Derek says.

With that Mark takes off at a sprint towards the trauma room. The blinds are pulled shut so Mark can't get the glance he needs, he needs to know that Lexie's real that she's here. Making a judgement call he decides to go in the room.

Opening the door, Mark takes a step inside the room. Lexie's awake, she's in the bed. Mark feels like he can't breathe. He knows all eyes in the room are on him and how he'll handle this. Clearing his throat Mark reaches for the chart. "I'm, uhm, I'm Doctor Sloan. I'm our ear, nose and throat specialist, I understand you've spent some time intubated. Well I'm here to check your throat." He knows they would have done all of this the moment the extubated her, but Mark needs a reason to be in the room.

Looking at this man, Lexie can't help but feel like she knows this man. Something about this face seemed like the one she remembered, but she wondered if she mistaken him for someone else in her mind. "Yes I guess I have spent a few months unconscious. Nice to meet you." Lexie says even though she can't help but feel like she should know this man.

Mark knows that Torres and Hunt would watch his every move as he interacted with Lexie. Carefully he moves towards the bed, sitting in the stool by her head. "Right, so if you'd open up I'll take a look at your throat and we can just make sure no major damage was done." Mark explains bringing his penlight up to look at Lexie's throat.

Derek comes back in to the room, but Mark doesn't notice. While everyone's eyes remain glued to Mark, his eyes remain stuck on Lexie.

AN: Well it looks like Jane Doe has a name, even if she doesn't know it! How did she end up in Dillard? Drop a review and let me know what you thought!


	4. Come to Me

Derek waits longer than he planned to take Lexie up for her CT. Even if Lexie doesn't recognize Mark, Derek feels like he needs to let Mark have a few minutes with Lexie. Without listening in too much, Derek can tell that Mark's conversation has put Lexie at ease.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but it's time to take you up for a CT ma'am." Derek interjects signaling to the other doctors to move her. Collectively the doctors in the room had made the decision to try and minimize the amount of other people in and out of the room, even the nursing staff.

Worry washes over Lexie's face, and none of the doctors in the room miss it. Her eyes flicker up to Mark, seeming uncomfortable at the thought of moving from Mark. "And if you're okay with it, ma'am we could bring Doctor Sloan, I'm sure he's got a few thing he'd like to check out on the scan and I can always use more eyes." Derek offers, and Lexie's relief is evident to everyone in the room.

Nodding she agrees easily. "That'd be great." Despite lacking any actual knowledge of who Mark is, she's comforted by him staying by her side. Taking the cue from Derek the doctors begin wheeling her up towards CT, careful not to jostle her too much. "I'm assuming that you're looking for some sort of hematoma or something around the medial temporal lobe. Or really just any slow bleed just small enough to have remained unnoticed by another neurosurgeon." Lexie spits out, her mind filling in the blanks all on its own.

Stopping in their tracks all four doctors turn their heads to look at Lexie. Sheepishly she shrugs "I'm pretty sure I'm a doctor," she explains. "When I woke up I could figure out why my BP might be a little low and what my heart rate meant but I couldn't figure out my own name. Ridiculous right?" Lexie asks laughing slightly. She didn't understand how she could remember exact pages in medical textbooks.

 _And that face_. Lexie adds internally, wondering about the chances she could have known these people. Maybe she met them at a conference or worked at a neighboring hospital. Trying to take her mind off of it, she watches as they move her from the gurney to the CT bed. "Right so, we'll be in the booth if you need anything." Mark says once everyone's left the room, he's the one to press the button to put her in. Hesitating for a moment, he looks at her for a moment only to press the button.

Quickly leaving the room, Mark moves into the observation booth. Dropping into the chair next to Derek, Mark lets out a sigh. "How ya doing man?" Derek asks placing a hand on Mark's shoulder. Meredith's gone off somewhere to process, Derek doesn't doubt she'll pop up at some point, but not right now. Mentally he makes the note that if he hasn't seen her once they've gotten Lexie settled to go find her.

The plastic surgeon lets out a shaky laugh as he tries to stabilize himself. "She's here. I held her hand and kissed her goodbye, I felt her pulse stop. I let go of her hand." There's a hollowness in Mark's voice that shows just how carefully he's keeping all of his emotions in check. The days in the woods had without a doubt been the worst in his life.

"I know, but she's here. We'll figure out what's wrong and we'll do everything we can to fix it." Derek tries to comfort Mark. "She's here. That's the most important part." He tries his best to remind the other surgeon.

Behind them, Callie Torres watches Mark and Derek's interaction. She's under no delusion that prior to today anything other than Sofia had kept her best friend alive. After the crash, when Mark had woken up during what everyone assumed to be a surge Callie had begged Mark to stay around for Sofia. Selfishly, she had come up with every possible guilt trip to keep him alive. It had worked, and now she was glad she did it. "You're both alive, after everything you're both alive. You can deal with the rest." Callie reminds him.

"I know, I just." He pauses still trying to keep his emotions contained. "I can't believe it." The disbelief in Mark's voice brings a smile to Callie and Derek's faces. For the first time in months Mark seems almost genuinely happy, and if they could figure out how to fix her memory things could only get better.

The scans pop up on the screen and Derek's eyes go searching for some sort of bleed, any mark. On the earlier scans he had seen one, the doctor at Dillard had highlighted the bleed and how she'd seen it shrink over the last few months. "There's a small bleed, one that's taken months to shrink according to the scans they sent. I'll watch it over the next few days. I want to see how it shrinks and if she gains more information." Derek explains making notes on the chart.

Grabbing the old scans from last week Derek lays them next to the scans from last month. "It's shrinking, significantly. The fact she's woken up is remarkable, and her medical knowledge is there. Traumatic brain injuries are a waiting game, it's a balance of rehab and time. We'll wait and see what happens next but I would really like to avoid putting her under for as long as possible." Derek explains. Knowing Lexie spent months unconscious he's wary to do anything which would put her under and put any stress on her system.

"So we wait?" Mark asks looking to the bed in the CT room.

Shaking his head Derek runs through a few more things "I have a couple more tests I'd like to run, I don't trust week old scans from a hospital in the middle of nowhere without a trauma center." He knew a little about Dillard's reputation, they were solid for smaller things, but nowhere near the level Lexie needed. "I want to try and keep you with her, I noticed her levels are a lot more stable when you're around."

The scan ends and Mark gets up to go help move Lexie. "Do you think that I could sit up for a minute? All I know is I've been unconscious for eight months and the entire time I've been here I've been lying flat on a bed. Could I sit up for moment?" She asks looking between the doctors.

Never able to tell Lexie no when she wanted something, it takes everything Mark has to not instantly say yes. Thankfully Derek jumps in. "I think for a minute we can help you sit up." Derek offers. Pulling the bed close Derek and Mark help prop her up. Mark tries not to focus on the fact Lexie feels smaller than usual in his hands.

After a moment her body tenses, her eyes widen, and the doctors prepare to put her flat again. Shaking her head she looks directly at them. "My name begins with an L, maybe it's a nickname, but it starts with an L." She blurts.

"My name begins with an L." She repeats.

AN: Well well, looks like Lexie's got a few details popping forward in her mind. But will she remember? How did she get out from under the plane and end up at Dillard anyways?

Review and let me know what you thought!


	5. Give Me Love

Mark speaks first. "You're positive? Your name begins with an L?" He asks trying to keep his voice steady.

"I think so," Lexie pauses pursing her lips. "I'm pretty sure it's a nickname though, short for something." She muses trying to figure out what it is. Every ounce of self-control Mark has goes into not telling her that her name is Lexie.

Debating just launching in and telling her all of the information he knows, Mark looks over to Derek. As they wheel Lexie down towards her room, Lexie can't help but notice the band on her wrist. "How did you know I have a sulfur allergy?" She asks looking up at the doctors.

Hesitating Mark, Callie, and Derek all look at each other. By now they've reached Lexie's room and Callie busies herself right away with setting up the machines in the room. After a moment of no one answering she asks again "How did you know I have a sulfur allergy? I can't remember my own name and a sulfur allergy is pretty rare and hard to diagnose, especially if I was unconscious." She repeats not liking the answer they've given her.

In a moment Mark looks at Derek, protocol be damned he's not going to let Lexie sit here confused for hours or days on end. He's not asking for permission, he's going to answer. Before he can jump in and answer, Lexie speaks again. "And I know you. Your face is familiar, I don't know why but I know you." Staring right at Mark, Lexie has made it clear she wants an answer and that she won't take silence.

Letting out a sigh, Mark speaks. "Your name is Alexandra Grey, we call you Lexie. You were a fourth-year surgical resident here until about eight months ago, you, me, Dr. Shepherd, and three others were in a plane crash. We thought you died, crushed by the plane, and when we got rescued you were nowhere to be found." He's desperately trying to keep his voice calm, to not get lost in the memory of that horrid day. "We know you're allergic to sulfur drugs, and eggs. We know that because we know you, _I know you_." Mark finishes and takes a seat in the chair next to her bed.

Shocked that these doctors she did not recognize know her, Lexie looks at all of them. "You know me?" She asks her eyes going from Callie and Derek directly to Mark. Something tells Derek he and Callie need to excuse themselves to give Mark and Lexie the room, but he waits a moment. Hovering near the door, he and Callie watch the interaction in front of them.

Nodding, Mark looks at Lexie. "I know you. But amnesia protocol in this hospital meant we couldn't say anything at first. Not until we had a better idea of what's happening." He explains hoping that it answers enough questions for her to understand they hadn't abandoned her, at this moment it seemed unlikely Mark would ever let her out of his sight again.

Content with this, Lexie leans back against the pillows on the bed. "I thought I was some nameless person and no one would ever find me or I would remain memoryless forever." She admits relieved that even if she doesn't have her memories she at least has her people and knows her name. It's not where she wants to be, but she can work with this.

Unable to control the small chuckle, Mark shakes his head. "If I had known you were at Dillard you would have woken up here or you wouldn't have been alone there." He pauses, clearly remembering something but Lexie decides not to push right now. "If I had been able to find you, you never would have doubted having people I promise." There's something in Mark's voice that resonates with Lexie, it occurs to her at that moment she's close with him.

"When I woke up, I could only think of two faces, yours and a blonde woman's. You and I aren't just friends and coworkers are we?" Lexie asks hoping that Mark will continue to give her the answers to things she wants to know.

This was it. This question. Mark knew what he wanted to tell her, but he also knew he had to explain it in a way that wouldn't overwhelm her. "No we're not." He pauses not wanting to launch into their whole saga right this minute. "It's complicated, what we are and where we stood at the time of the accident. At the end of the day, I love you and you loved me. We just were struggling to get it together, but we loved each other." He places a hand on hers and looks up into Lexie's eyes.

Right now he's not asking for anything from her, and he doesn't want to overwhelm her with the most intimate details of their life and how they hadn't been together at the time of the accident. He wants to make sure that Lexie knows he loves her, that he always had, and that he always will. "I want to give you more answers," Mark explains continuing to talk. "But I want you to be able to remember things on your own so I'm not going to go into all the details right now."

Taking his hand in hers Lexie grasps it tightly. "Thank you, for being honest with me and filling in even some of the gaps." She's truly grateful to know anything more about her than she knew when she woke up. "Would you mind staying? I know that you just told me you love me and I don't remember you, but you're comforting." She's rambling and the rambling genuinely brings a smile to Mark's face.

"I don't think you could kick me out if you tried."

AN: So she knows some details! Not everything yet, and she doesn't remember, but it's a start! Drop a review please and let me know what you thought!


	6. Funny the Way It Is

Meredith knew she should have gone to see Lexie. Mentally, she understood she should go see the little sister she spent months mourning and regretting that she hadn't demanded they find her before they left the woods last year. Something stopped her from going upstairs and sitting down in Lexie's room.

For all Meredith knew, Lexie knew nothing about her. If Lexie, who they all had applauded her memory, couldn't remember her own name how would she remember the sister she had only known for five years? Meredith didn't know how she could handle seeing Lexie like she worried she might be.

So where was Meredith sitting right now?

In the basement, on the gurneys, alone. She wanted to be alone right now, she couldn't take the people looking at her and whispering and the pressure of knowing she had waited to see her sister.

Her mind had run over that day where they crashed again and again. Meredith didn't understand how Lexie had survived. How could she have gotten out of there? Meredith remembered feeling for a pulse after they had dealt with Mark's heart, nothing. The pulse in Lexie's wrist at been nonexistent, Meredith's positive. It was her little sister, she wouldn't of left if she had ever thought Lexie would take another breath.

Yet, if Meredith went just a few floors upstairs she could see Lexie breathe, she could have a conversation with her.

Leaning back against the wall, Meredith closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath. In a few hours she'll have calmed down enough to go upstairs and see Lexie. The bed moves next to her and Meredith can tell by the weight shift that it's not Cristina, it's her husband.

"Hey you okay?" Derek asks knowing she's had an interesting day.

Leaning over, Meredith places her head on his shoulder "Is Mark with her now?" She asks. Even if she can't bring herself to go upstairs yet, she wants to know that Lexie's not alone.

"Yeah Mark's with her, she knows she's a doctor. Her memory seems to have retained all of the surgical and medical knowledge, she doesn't fully remember Mark but she remembered his face, she also felt pretty sure her name began L." Derek explains. He's optimistic telling Meredith as much as he can will help her get closer to going upstairs. "I slipped a sulfur allergy bracelet on her when we brought her in, and she wondered how we knew that. She asked, Mark answered trying to keep as close to protocol as he could but he told her a decent amount. All things considered, she's talking, awake, and her personality is still there." Working in neuro Derek had seen all sorts of variations in what a traumatic injury like this could do to someone. To have Lexie really only struggling to gain her memory back, it was a lot but he felt confident things would be okay.

Processing slowly Meredith's grateful Mark had gone to sit with Lexie. She knows she hasn't answered Derek's question and quite frankly she doesn't think she can. Right now she had no idea if she was okay. It had taken so much to even remotely move on from Lexie's supposed death, and suddenly everything she thought she knew shifted. "You took her for a scan right? What did you see?" Meredith asks tilting her head to look at her husband.

As Derek sighs softly Meredith's chest constricts. Every inch of her expects this to go south, after waiting eight months to know anything about her sister, it felt like she had only moments until everything got ripped away again. "She's got a bleed, it's small and it's pressing exactly over where memories get stored. Looking over her scans from the previous eight months, it's shrinking, slowly. I'm going to keep watching it over the next week and then I'll make a decision on what to do." He pauses, trying to push the thought of operating on Lexie out of his mind. "I don't want to operate if I can help it, but if the bleed doesn't go down I'll want to go in. Otherwise, she's relatively fine. It doesn't make sense."

To say Lexie's arrival had baffled the hospital seemed like the understatement of the century. "I just don't understand how she's here. Derek I felt for a pulse and I couldn't find one, but then she was gone when we got rescued and suddenly eight months later she's here?" Meredith wouldn't trade having Lexie back for anything, but she needed to understand what happened. "She shouldn't have been able to get out from under the plane and we tried. Mark tried, I tried, Cristina tried. But here she is. What did we miss?" She asks tears brimming in her eyes.

The days in the woods had taken a toll on everyone who survived, very rarely did they choose to speak about what they had gone through and almost never with anyone who had not crashed. "I don't know, but she's here now. Somehow, we all survived." Derek tries to keep the astonishment out of his voice as he pulls Meredith closer to him and kisses the top of her head.

The plane crash should have killed all of them. Cristina and Meredith had relatively superficial injuries, concussions and dislocated bones. Nothing permanent, nothing other than small scars and mental wounds. Derek, Mark, and Arizona had not gotten out quite so lucky, and for a while it looked like they would really lose Mark. For a month after the crash It seemed highly unlikely Mark would end up having walked away, especially once they thought they had lost Lexie.

After the crash, when Mark woke up in the hospital bed, even with Derek and Callie by his side it seemed like Mark would give up. His injuries had kept him out of work for a while, and Derek truly believed that if not for Sofia, and Callie begging him to not leave the little girl, Mark would have died. By no means did any of those who survived act like this was a secret, everyone knew that Sofia had kept Mark alive, and now it seemed like with Lexie here any remaining worry of keeping Mark around disappeared.

"Will you go with me to see her?" Meredith asks in a rare moment of vulnerability.

"Of course I will," Derek promises not hesitating for a moment. If Meredith needed a little extra help processing this Derek would be there.

Taking this as her cue to get up, Meredith gets up to head towards Lexie's room. The entire walk she's silent, staying close to Derek but not touching him. In a matter of minutes they've reached her room, Meredith pauses for a second before opening the door to Lexie's room.

What happens next no one in the room could have predicted. Both Lexie and Mark's heads turn towards the door and before anyone can say anything Lexie calls out "Meredith!" Happily in a way that causes all the heads to whip back towards her in confusion. Mark hadn't told her Meredith's name, no one had said anything, and yet Lexie had called it out easily.

Even Lexie seemed confused by her outburst.

AN: And that's chapter six. So maybe Lexie has a little memory somewhere in her mind? Review and let me know what you thought!


	7. What Comes Next

"Do you know Meredith?" Derek breaks the silence first as the neurosurgeon in him snaps into action. An hour ago Lexie couldn't even tell them her name, if she could remember Meredith's and had begun to remember her own then he could reasonably believe her bleed had continued to shrink.

Lexie's unsure if she actually knows her or if her mind had just filled in the blanks. "I don't know, I definitely remembered her face, the same way I remembered Mark's." She explains racking her brain to figure out if she actually knew Meredith. "She walked in and her name popped into my head. I can't really explain much more than that." Lexie can't ignore the small pout that crosses her face. In her gut she feels like she knows all these people, and even though they told her why, she still can't associate any of them.

Taking even the smallest of glances at the man next to her bedside, she can't help but to wish she knew him. From the moment he walked in the room in the ER, Lexie had felt calmer. Something about him made her feel relaxed and safe, and she never wanted him to leave. "I realize you probably know me, and it seems like I know your name, so how do I know you?" She asks turning from Mark to Meredith.

The rambling that falls from Lexie's mouth brings a smile to Meredith's face, and she realizes even with her damaged memory, Lexie was still Lexie. "I'm your sister, your half-sister technically, but your older sister. You've known me for about five years." Meredith explains. For a moment she's taken back to when she first met Lexie and how she wanted so little to do with her, so much had changed.

"Sister huh? I don't seem to really know anything about myself or you, but having a sister seems nice." Lexie muses wondering if they had other siblings and how exactly the half-sister thing worked out.

Finally gaining enough courage to move from the door, Meredith steps closer to the end of Lexie's bed. "We have another sister that you grew up with, Molly, she's your full sister. She's married and her husband works on a military base so you don't really see her as much. We all share a dad." Despite the fact Lexie doesn't remember Molly, Meredith doesn't feel the need to explain just how far apart her and Lexie had grown over the last four years. Since starting at Seattle Grace, and with their mom's death and their dad's alcoholism, Lexie and Molly had grown far apart. Speaking less and less each year.

Noticing the ring on Meredith's finger, Lexie pauses. "So you're married, Molly's married, and I'm single? Am I just the worst one?" She asks concerned for a moment she's the sister no one likes. Everyone but Lexie bursts out laughing. Meredith can't stop laughing as she tries to calm herself down and wipe the tears which have developed from laughing so hard.

"No," she starts taking a breath to calm herself. "If anything you're probably the best one, but you're young and brilliant. And besides Mark here-"

Mark jumps in to cut Meredith off before she can give away anything else. "It's complicated," His voice holds a note of finality that signals to not push this topic further. "We talked about it earlier, and how it's really not the focus right now. The focus is getting you as healthy as possible."

Both Meredith and Derek's faces turn in confusion for a moment before deciding to brush off Mark's outburst.

"All of that relationship crap is besides the point, I am just so happy you're here and that we found you." Meredith says comfortingly. No one in the room needs to speak about the last eight months and how desperate Mark and Meredith had grown for any sort of answer as to what happened to Lexie. Both wanted desperately to know how Lexie had gotten out from under the plane, only now they cared so much less.

The guilt would remain for not being able to find Lexie for the months they tried desperately too, and without a doubt everyone on the plane would remain unsure of how Lexie hadn't made it back with them. So little of that mattered now. All anyone cared about was the fact that Lexie was here, she was talking and cognizant of what happened around her. They could work with the memory stuff.

"I'm really glad I'm here," Lexie agrees. Waking up had terrified her, she knew so little about herself and worried she would have spent the rest of her life alone and unsure, but now she felt safe and had some answers. While she still had more questions and wanted more answers, this was a good start.

AN: And that's a (short) chapter 7! Some happy fluff, turns out Lexie didn't quite remember Meredith like everyone thought. I'll write more soon! Let me know what you thought and drop a review!


	8. Knowing Me, Knowing You

"Well Lexie it looks like your bleed is shrinking nicely, it's going a little slower than I would ideally like to see, but I think we can expect it to completely disappear in the coming weeks." Derek starts pointing with the calipers to the scans of Lexie's head.

The medical information makes sense, but Lexie still had massive gaps in her memory. "I still remember next to nothing about my life. You all vaguely look familiar but I still can't place anything." Lexie's frustrated. In the days since waking up she had remembered so few things, and she just wanted to know herself.

"I know you're frustrated, but really, so far you've made tremendous progress. You're going through a horrible thing, but the amount of information you can recall really is surprising." Derek remarks. After spending eight months unconscious and the nature of Lexie's traumatic brain injury, Derek still struggled to medically understand how Lexie could even sit here and talk to him. Add in the fact Lexie could explain how to do a difficult craniotomy and she made even less sense.

Sighing Lexie looks back to the screen where her scans sat. Before she could say anything else Derek softly speaks again. "The brain is a mysterious thing, you were unconscious for eight months, you were trapped under a plane, and you still have the bulk of your knowledge - especially your medical knowledge." He points out. "I saw you under the plane before you disappeared, I've seen your first scans from when you ended up at Dillard and I know what that hospital is like, I actually don't understand how you're standing here." So many gaps existed in what happened to Lexie.

Lexie comprehends all of this, and she knew that she could potentially get her memory back, but that didn't change the fact she wanted it back. "Medically, I understand that. I know just how lucky I am to have any sort of memory at all, not to mention the fact I can completely concentrate. I just…" she trails off.

"You want to remember Mark." Derek finishes. It's not a question, he's watched the two of them together.

For a moment she's silent. "He's by my side every day. I'm actually surprised he left long enough for you and I to have this conversation." She begins laughing slightly at how Mark had really stayed next to her from the moment she arrived at Seattle Grace onward. "There's something there. I can feel it. It's like it's just beyond my reach. He loves me I know it. I just want to know him."

For Lexie and Mark the hardest part of this was her not knowing him. Derek had watched for months as Mark mourned Lexie, to have her back was clearly something Mark was grateful for but Derek could tell he wanted Lexie to remember. Trying to think of how he could give Lexie any bit of normalcy back, an idea pops into his mind. "I've got an idea. Let's test your medical knowledge." Standing up, Derek takes the back of Lexie's wheelchair and begins wheeling her out of the room.

Ten minutes later finds them in both in the skills lab. Derek had stolen a pair of the light blue scrubs in Lexie's size and brought her to the lab. Setting up the neurosurgical dummy he opens up a surgical kit and hands the scalpel to Lexie. "You're a doctor, a surgeon, and it seems like those memories remain. So let's test it. Perform a craniotomy." Derek sits down next to the dummy and looks right at Lexie.

"What?" She asks baffled as Derek sits down across from her. The scalpel feels right in her hand, not too heavy but not too light.

"You heard me. Perform a craniotomy, as far as you can go until your memory cuts out. I'll be right here if you get stuck." Derek promises. Shooting Mark a text he lets him know where they are, but not to come for a little bit.

Gesturing, Lexie's still surprised by this. "I don't… do I have clearance to do this?" She asks. A part of her hesitated, what if her medical memory was nothing more than facts and all the skills everyone said she had disappeared.

Leaning forward, Derek rests his arms on his knees and looks up at Lexie. "You have clearance. Every level you need. No one's here. Just you and me, and I'm not even paying attention. So, perform a craniotomy until you forget what comes next." Derek instructs.

Nodding, Lexie lets out a sigh before making an incision. Her hands fly through the surgery, she knows exactly what comes next, her mind doesn't falter for a second. Holding her hands out she asks for the tools she needs as she gets there. "Sucker." She instructs, Derek hands her the small one. "No the big one, the, the… the doomsday one." She asks with a gesture of her hand, pointing to the largest sucker on the table.

With a smirk Derek hands her the sucker. The moment it lands in her hand she stalls. "I won," she mutters. It takes a moment for the memory to fully process, before she realizes. "I won. The intern bowl. I won, and I scrubbed in with you." For once she doesn't have to ask a question about her own life.

"I won." She repeats with a smile on her face.

"You won, and you remembered. It's all in there. We just have to give it some time, but you won. In so many ways." Derek agrees.

AN: Another organic memory for Lexie! Review and let me know what you thought!


	9. Someday

AN: I am sooo sorry this took so long it's been crazy.

"I feel comfortable discharging you." Derek begins looking at the stats on Lexie's chart.

Before Lexie can say anything Mark jumps in. "What about the brain bleed? And the rest of her memory?" Sparse details had come to her memory over the past few weeks. She remembered bits and pieces, Zola and the death of her mother, but still nothing about Mark.

She wanted to remember this man who had sat by her bedside for the past few weeks, she wanted nothing more than to remember something about him. Mark Sloan clearly loved Lexie Grey, but Lexie only had one brief memory of him from the day she won the intern bowl. Some brief flirting, but nothing solid.

Candidly, Derek looks at both of them. "Everyone in this room knows the brain is a tricky thing. It could be weeks, months, or even years before Lexie remembers the rest. If she remembers at all." He's explained this to them before, and Lexie and Mark both had an idea of what could happen.

"So if I'm being discharged, where do I live?" Lexie asks unsure where she would be ending up. If they thought she died then any property she potentially owned didn't exist anymore.

Glancing at Mark, Derek takes the opportunity to answer. "Before the plane crash you lived with me and Meredith. We have a room and space for you if you want." He offers. Part of him hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should just let Lexie go home with Mark, especially knowing that Mark would want Lexie coming home with him.

Nodding, Lexie processes trying to think about where she should go. Even if Mark wanted her to come home with him, until she had some idea of how they stood Lexie thought she could go home with someone else. "I think that would be great, if it's not too much?" She asks nervously. "It's not like I've got an apartment somewhere that's been waiting for me to come home," she jokes.

With a chuckle Derek shakes his head. "You do not, and either way I wouldn't feel comfortable letting you go home alone." Derek really disliked the idea of Lexie being alone, the bleed wasn't completely resolved, and if something happened while she was alone it wouldn't be good. "I believe you can go home, but brain bleeds are brain bleeds, I don't want you to spend a lot of time alone." He explains gently.

Medical knowledge intact, Lexie understands why she cannot spend the time alone. Taking a glance to her right, she looks at Mark, surprised by his silence. Before he can say or do anything she turns back to Derek to agree with him. "That all makes sense to me, and then for PT I just come back to the hospital with you or Meredith?" She asks knowing she still has lots of work to do to get back to normal.

"Exactly." Derek begins before his pager goes off. "I have to run, but I'll have someone bring by discharge forms in a little bit. Anything you don't know ask Mark or page me. I'll see you in a bit for our final discharge evaluation." He promises before bolting out the door.

Turning to Mark, Lexie asks the question on the tip of her tongue. "So we didn't live together when the plane crashed?" She asks.

For the last few weeks Mark had put off this moment. He had waited to tell her about how they had spent the last year completely separated, and how her calling him a disease was the closest they came to getting their shit together. "When the plane crashed, we weren't together. We lived together at one point, but we had broken up." Mark doesn't mention the promises he made to her trapped under the plane. He stays silent on his haphazard proposal and the promise of a life together.

Frowning, Lexie tries to understand. "We weren't together? You've been here every day though." She asks.

Derek had instructed them to stay on the quieter side of details with her, because they wanted Lexie to remember as organically as possible. "We weren't, but we loved each other. I would tell you more but" Mark begins but Lexie cuts him off.

"Derek told you to wait to see if I'm going to remember." She finishes frustrated. "Have you thought about what happens if I don't remember? Are you just going to spend the rest of your life not moving forward and not giving me information?" Lexie's so sick of having no idea who she is or where her life stands.

Sighing, Mark looks at her wishing he could give her more information. "You don't know that you won't remember. But if you don't I don't care. Lexie I am just so happy you're alive I don't care if you ever remember and quit wanting to be a surgeon. So stop worrying about that." He promises.

Lexie can feel her irritation dissipate as he speaks with a kindness. Mark wants nothing from her other than to be alive and be happy, and she can tell. Partially, Mark's desire for her to be happy breaks her heart, and she just wants to remember. "You're not just waiting for me to suddenly remember everything?" She asks her voice a little smaller.

"No," He answers honestly. "The year before we thought you died hadn't been great for you and me. So obviously there's no rush for you to remember that part. But Lexie, I thought you were dead. I'll take any moment with you I can get." Mark promises. He leans forward, arms propped on the bed to keep his face close to her as he speaks.

Making a judgment call, Lexie leans forward and kisses him softly. Before Mark can process he's kissing her back, hand sliding up towards her hair.

Suddenly, Lexie's seeing flashes of things in her mind. "I asked you to teach me. Years ago, I walked into your room."

"And stripped off your clothes and hooked me in right away." He finishes the Sloan smirk growing on his face.

"I don't remember everything, but I definitely know who you are now." She's ecstatic, the first few months of them together popping into her mind. "I know who _you_ are."

AN: So she doesn't remember everything but she knows who Mark is now! Drop me a review and let me know what you thought!


	10. Home

Meredith had dropped off clothes for Lexie to wear heading home. Nothing too flashy, just joggers and a t-shirt. Mark had given her a few moments to change, and Lexie still had a lot of questions. Their kiss had set off some memories for her, but she still fell short of remembering the bulk of the last four years.

Lexie wanted to know why if Mark loved her enough to sit by her bedside they hadn't been together when the accident happened. On top of that, the two needed to talk about the kiss which happened earlier, Lexie needed to know where they stood.

Almost as if he knew she was thinking about him, Mark came back into the room. "Derek and Meredith got pulled into surgery, but I can take you home. Unless you want to wait for them." He offers. Mark can't deny that he's nervous about what comes next, he firmly believed she would remember everything and he did not find himself immensely proud of all of his actions involving him and Lexie.

Spotting the wheelchair, Lexie swings her legs over to begin to leave. "No I'm most definitely ready to go home and get settled." She stands and easily places herself in the chair. While in the hospital she had spent a lot of time in physical therapy and even though she still tired easily, her body had made a significant amount of progress in the short time.

"I figured that, let's go Little Grey." Mark starts with a smile. Taking the handles of her wheelchair he leads them both out of the hospital

On the ride to Meredith and Derek's dream house, Mark and Lexie stay relatively silent. She's nervous, there's so much for her to say and so many questions she wants to ask, but she doesn't. Only inches from her, Mark takes a glance at Lexie while he drives them.

Six months ago it seemed like he would spend the rest of his life alone, and now he's taking the love of his life home from the hospital. Maybe she didn't remember everything at this second, yet, he didn't care. She knew him. Mark couldn't ask for anything else.

Pulling in, Mark turns the car off and looks back to Lexie. "Ready to go in?" he asks.

Shaking her head, Lexie stops him from opening the car door.

"What's wrong?" Mark asks softly.

Hesitating to put a voice to her thoughts, Lexie tries figure out how to explain what she feels. "It's just... a few weeks ago I didn't know who I was, but now I have a home. I have a whole family, a place I live, I have a you." She rambles still a little shocked at how quickly everything had fallen back into place for her. She had this whole life here just waiting for her.

"You're home Lexie." Mark says with a smile on his face.

Taking his hand in hers, she walks inside. No longer afraid of what came next.

AN: A shorter chapter I know, but I think this might be starting to wrap up. I've got a little bit left, maybe a big epilogue or a chapter or two! Review and let me know what you thought!


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